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Losing required weight

J

Jamie-Sue30

Member
Hi All,

Just wondering how everyone has lost or is losing the required weight to have surgery. I have to lose 23 pounds and so far have lost 13. I have 10 pounds to go but really need to lose 3-4 pounds this week. I am super stressed about this! Any tips?

Thanks,

Jamie
 
Hi Jamie-Sue, Welcome to the forum. I wasn't given an exact number of pounds to lose and I'm not sure if my insurance requires it. I started by giving up chocolate then found that I wasn't craving other sweets. I'm the grocery shopper in my family, so if I don't buy it, it's not in the house. I think that has helped me. Journaling my food intake has also helped a lot to see where I was using/abusing my daily calories. Mind you, I was never able to do this before deciding on bariatric surgery, so some angel has descended on me and is guiding me in the right direction. Good luck to you
 
I thought that they said I had to be on soft liquids and the next week clear but nit sure. Will find out whn I see the doctor last time
 
Jamie-Congratulations on your pre-surgical weight loss :) Just do the best you can to try to lose additional weight. I wasn't required to lose a specific amount of weight but the pre-surgical diet usually causes a weight loss for most of us. Unless your surgeon has told you that you must lose a certain amount of weight before surgery then try not to stress out over this. I have researched bariatric surgery for a very long time and the bottom line is that the main purpose of the pre-surgical diet is to shrink the liver so the surgeon has enough room to do the procedure laproscopically.

You can always call the nutritionist if you need some help with planning your meals before surgery.
 
Hi Jaime, try not to worry about the weight loss to much like every one said once you start the pre surgey diet you should lose 5 to 10 ponds, I lost 8, I like what Karenina said about the shopping, if you don't buy it you cant eat it LOL:eek: You will do fine, just keep doing what your doing, you have already lost over half of what you doctor wants. :cool: Tom
 
Unfortunately, the program that I am going through requires you to lose 10% of your excess weight. That would be 23 pounds for me. Our program doesn't do a pre surgery diet. I cut down to 1200 calories a day, with the permission of a nutritionist and I have lost a total of 17 pounds. I have 6 more to go. I know that I can do this. I am using my fitness pal on my smartphone which is AWESOME. It helps you count calories and you can basically plan out your entire day food wise with it, it is awesome! Thanks for all of your support. I meet with the program NP on the 4th and will probably start testing at that point. SO nervous!
 
I wasn't told anything about losing weigh before surgery. I met with nutritionist for abour one hour 20 minutes. I have everything competed but my sleep study.. that will be in two weeks. But, she said I have to go to another meeting and take a test about vitamins etc. There I would recive a large book that will have everything I need to know for life. And there will be samples of proteins and so forth. So, I am waiing wondering when lol. I was told to expect the doctor to get in touch with me after my sleep study. I have had a lot of testing my surgery is for my health as well as I want to me thinner.
I am having the by pass surgery. It seem like its been forever but it hasn't. I had echo cardio gram, blood test, several other tests, and the doctor said he would do my throat scope day of. I watch you tube and noticed they gave a few patients something to relax them prior to surgery, did anyone get this? thats all I just don't want to go in the operating room with out something. I have panic attacks,
 
Jamie-6 pounds is nothing, you can do this without any problems. I also use myfitness pal, it's awsome!!!
 
Darkpoeticangel-You will be given an injection in your IV line that will totally relax you and lower your pulse. Some people actually fall asleep from it before they are taken into the ER. If you are feeling stressed out while you are being prepped for surgery ask the nurse if you can have the shot as soon as possible. They can give it to you before the IV is in place. Back in the day when you had to check into the hospital the afternoon before surgery they used to give you a shot of demerol before they took you down to pre-op. After that you didn't have a care in the world *LOL*
 
I was also told that I had to loose a certain percentage before surgery. I just watched everything I ate bought an exercise bike and drank only diet beverages and water and didnt really snack on the food I use to. I now snack on carrot sticks or other vegies or fruit. I also watched anything with saturated fat there is so many foods that have this in it I was surprised. You should be very proud of yourself for your weight loss so far. You can do this.
 
Pat99 NO MORE Demerol use. They do different things in different hospitals pre op but if you tell the anesthesia people you are really nervous they should be able to give you something in the IV to relax you, like Proprofol, use to relax or actually put you to sleep, very pleasant way since you do not know you are going to sleep, it hits and in a thousandth of a second you are out and waking up. The only way you know you are all done is that your tummy tells you so!
 
Hi my doctor told me I had to loose 5% of my weight before my surgery. I lost it by eating lots of spinach salads. It wasnt that bad. I wonder why your doctor is making you loose more than 5%?
 
Hi Jamie-Sue,

One thing I have learned since coming to this Forum is that each and every bariatric center or surgeon is different and may have slightly different requirements. Also each insurance plan is different and what the doctor orders may be due to insurance requirements. My niece had to lose 10 % of her weight first, but I did not. I hear people talk about the liquid diet anywhere from two weeks down to three days prior to surgery. Mine was three days and the last day was clear liquids. Some do a bowel prep and some do not. Since I got a lap band I did not need a bowel prep. Some insurances require a supervised weight loss trial for at least six months with very specific rules and regulations and some have no requirement at all. Even my two choices of centers were slightly different in the requirements.

Prior to most of my surgeries they have given me Versed via my IV line. Works for me, I don't remember going to the OR and sometimes don't even remember being in the recovery room. They tell me I was wide awake and talking on the way, I just don't remember it, ROFL. Just wake up in my room all done. The actual surgery is the easy part for me.
 
Versed is nice but I wish they used Demoral pre op so you feel real light(high) and at lease. For some reason, Demoral has been replaced with Dilaudid for pain and Fentenyl for sedation along with Versed. IF your surgery or procedure is being done with "conscious sedation" you get Fentanyl and Versed and you remember nothing and feel nothing but are not under general anesthesia but abdominal surgery is done under general anesthesia.
 
Demerol does nothing for me at all. We stopped using Demerol for post op pain especially with the pain pumps. They used Dilaudid for pain with a pump in the hospital and then dilaudid orally and some liquid lortab at home for me. I was quite comfortable for the most part. When it comes to pain control it is a matter of the right med for the type of pain, in the right dosage, and the route has some influence too. What works for one may not work for another. I usually get conscious sedation for things like steroid injections, EGD, colonoscopy, cardiac cath, and stuff like that.
 
Jamie, i had no required weight to loose beffore surgery but we are put on a liquid diet 2 weeks before surgery to shrink the liver. In the last 6 days I lost 8 pounds by just drinking 5 protein shakes a day plus water...my surgery is next week. But it's very hard to stay on liquids when people around you eat..
Good luck...........Cindy
 
I wish I had conscious sedation for steroid injections in my back, not because it was painful, because it was not. IT was nerve whracking. Yes EGD, colonscopy and cardiac cath are things I have experienced and had conscious sedation for as well as something called a coiling of an aneuysm in my brain(unsuccessful I might add). For me, they felt I was not breathing enough so woke me up mid procedure. NO pain though. Demerol 75mg killed pain for me when I had hysterectomy and Oophorectomy and Dilaudid made me sick but think the dose was too much. Anyway, yes the meds they use today are effective and I am sure work well. Will let you know once I have my surgery and am post op! That will not be for just under 6 weeks.
 
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